This is the second year that I've had my 7th graders make Medieval-style illuminated manuscripts from their favorite song lyrics.
Lessons learned:
  • Give students an explicit, step-by-step checklist of what is expected.
  • Give them plenty of time to complete the manuscript (the better part of a week), but only a couple of class periods. (Last year, this went on FOR EVER!)
  • Keep making comparisons and connections to Medieval illuminated manuscripts. It is easy for 12 year-olds to forget why they are doing this project.
  • Use Google Voice to have students explain the symbols they have chosen. This reinforces the lesson that Medieval monks enhanced their text with the equivalent of pop-culture iconography. Several manuscripts, which didn't seem all that well-thought-out at first glance turned out to be surprisingly sophisticated, once the symbolism was explained.
7/8/2013 05:07:31 pm

Nice post.

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